Premature babies are being blasted with dangerous levels of radiation due to poor training of X-ray technicians, an investigation has revealed.

Children have been irradiated from head to toe for no reason because staff do not know what they are doing, the New York Times claimed.

In other cases cancer patients have undergone similar treatment on healthy parts of their bodies which did not need it.

Cancer risk: Premature babies are being exposed to too much radiation because X-ray technicians are not being trained properly, according to a new investigation (posed by models)

The errors have happened because hospital staff are not adequately trained to use their equipment - even though experts have demanded minimum standards for years.

Experts have long warned that babies which are exposed to too many scans could be at higher risk of developing cancer later in life.

But in infancy they have to be put through a string of radiological exams to check on them including X-rays or CT scans, which are hundreds of times more powerful.

The exposure, whilst necessary, should be kept to a minimum - but the rules are routinely being broken.

Among the most notorious cases has been the Downstate Medical Centre in Brooklyn, New York, the investigation by the newspaper revealed.

Doctors were ‘mortified’ that a newborn baby had been irradiated from head to toe even though one X-ray would have been enough.

With no shielding, the ‘poor defenceless baby’ was given 10 whole body X-rays.

Investigations revealed that dozens more children had been given such treatment or that the radiation levels in the CT scanners were too set high.

Exposure: The investigation found that radiation levels in the CT scanners at Downstate Medical Centre in New York were set too high. Radiation therapists are not regulated in almost a third of U.S. states (file picture)

Others had been poorly positioned so it was hard for doctors to interpret the images.

The hospital never reported the problems in the unit in 2007 to state health officials as required.

In another case just two months ago one leading hospital in Michigan irradiated the healthy tissue of four cancer patients.

Three of the victims suffered burns when the technician repeatedly used the wrong equipment.

An estimated 70 million CT scans are performed in the United States every year, up from three million in the early 1980s.

As many as 14,000 people may die every year of radiation-induced cancers as a result, researchers estimate.

But despite this, radiation therapists are not regulated in almost a third of states in America and in 18 there are no guidelines for medical physicists.

Imaging technologists, which carry out a similar role, are also unregulated in 11 states.

The fear among doctors is of a cumulative effect of being exposed to radiation which could lead to a raised risk of cancer.

Congress has sat on laws which could solve the problem but have repeatedly failed to pass them and protect patients.

‘I would think the public would be outraged that Congress was sitting on what could reduce their radiation exposure,’ said Dr Fred Mettler, a radiologist and outspoken critic of the status quo.

Other research has indicated that CT scans may contribute to 29,000 new cancers each year.

In many cases CT scans can be lifesaving but in other cases there's no evidence they are better than other approaches and up to one third could be unnecessary.